ARCHAEOLOGY

Agra: Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma paid a surprise visit to the Taj Mahal on Tuesday evening, to look into the issues ailing the structure, following a directive from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He was accompanied by union minister of state for human resource development Ram Shankar Katheria and local tourism...

Uttar Pradesh minister Azam Khan has demanded that the Taj Mahal be handed over to the Waqf Board. The Taj Mahal is currently managed by the Archaeological Survey of India. Azam Khan says the Centre will be doing an injustice to the Muslim community if the Taj is not handed...

Chennai: Two antique statues of Hindu deities, allegedly stolen from temples here before being sold to art galleries in Australia, returned home on Thursday.
The statues of Nataraja and Ardhanariswara were handed over by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the former's India visit last week.
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Chhattisgarh's Culture and Tourism department has asked its officials to prepare a special action plan for making Sirpur, known for its archaeological importance, a 'world heritage site'.
While reviewing the work of Culture and Archaeological Department in Raipur on Monday, state culture and tourism minster Ajay Chandrakar asked to collect articles...

The Kedarnath temple committee has expressed dissatisfaction over the restoration work being carried out by ASI at the shrine which was damaged in last year's flash floods in Uttarakhand, but the government agency has squarely rejected these claims.
Ganesh Godiyal, president of Badri Kedar Temple Committee, has said that the Archaeological...

Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) will install a makeshift lightening conductor over the dome of Humayun's Tomb, after a massive storm struck down its finial rendering the world heritage "vulnerable".
After Friday's massive thunderstorm, the monument's "crown" carrying the lightening conductor for Tomb's safety, and an "auspicious symbol" were dislodged leaving...

While World Heritage Day was celebratd globally on Friday, Agra's residents seem unconcerned and indifferent to the Taj city's rich historical legacy.
Even with three World Heritage monuments and two more, Akbar's tomb at Sikandra and Etmauddaula, in the pipeline, the people in Agra displayed no sense of pride in their...

New Delhi: Enthusiasts can now explore 360 degree online imagery of 30 Indian heritage sites, including the Taj Mahal, Qutub Minar and Red Fort, which were released by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and Google.
The launch was the result of Google and ASI's joint initiative to make 100 of...

Glass bangles, iron nails and bones make up all that was yielded in the dig at the site in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh where a seer had claimed a treasure of gold was buried, Parliament was told on Wednesday.
Replying to a question in Rajya Sabha on the dig carried...

The Archaeological Survey of India on Tuesday said the Taj Mahal will remain closed on Fridays in compliance with Supreme Court orders.
The monument will remain closed once a week in compliance with the orders of the apex court, Superintending Archaeologist of ASI (Agra Zone) N K Pathak said on Tuesday.
He...

The dome of Bodh Gaya's 1,500yearold Mahabodhi temple, Buddhism's holiest shrine, has been inlaid with nearly 300 kg gold donated by devotees from Thailand giving the shrine a new look.
"A team of technical experts from Thailand has completed work to goldplate the dome and final touches were given to...

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has stopped restoration work of Kedarnath Temple, which was ravaged by the flashflood in June, after the doors of the sanctum sanctorum was closed due to snowfall and severe winter.
"The structural conservation as well as chemical preservation work has been stopped since November 2...

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on Tuesday said it has completed the first phase of restoration work on the Kedarnath temple in Uttarakhand that was damaged in floods and landslides in June.
Conservation work for structural as well as chemical preservation at the 11th century temple was taken up by...

New Delhi: Terming the ongoing gold hunt in Unnao "ridiculous", JD(U) on Monday threatened to file a police case against Union Minister Charan Das Mahant for promoting the alleged superstition and noted that the the seer who had claimed he had had a dream about the supposed treasure should ideally...

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has started the excavation work at the Unnao fort of former king Raja Ram Bux Singh on Friday to search for 1,000 tonnes of gold reportedly buried under it.
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Raking up the issue of black money, BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, on Friday, targeted the government for being unable to bring back the money stashed by Indian "thieves and looters" in foreign banks.
He raised the issue while mocking at the excavation being conducted by the Archaeological Survey of...

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a PIL seeking court monitoring of the digging being undertaken by the Archaeological Survey of India for gold in Daundia Khera village in UP's Unnao district.
A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam, however, refused to give an urgent hearing and asked...

Unnao: Uttar Pradesh will witness it's very own gold rush on Friday. A team of the Archaeological Survey of India is all set to begin excavations at a Unnao fort of former king Raja Ram Bux Singh on Friday after a sadhu dreamt about 1,000 tonnes of gold buried under...

New Delhi: The government is digging for treasure after a civicminded Hindu village sage dreamt that 1,000 tonnes of gold was buried under a ruined palace, and wrote to tell the central bank about it.
The state Archaeological Survey of India has sent a team of archaeologists to the village of...

Kolkata: Fossils of 17 birds were found buried in a wall during renovation of a 177yearold school building in Kolkata, with the Zoological Survey of India suggesting that they are the remains of a species of crows.
The fossilised remains were found during renovation of La Martiniere for Boys School inKolkata,...

A Thailandbased company has begun work to inlay with gold the dome of Bodh Gaya's 1,500years old Mahabodhi temple.Kreing Thavorn Containers Co Ltd is doing the work, said N Dorjee, secretary of the Bodh Gaya temple management committee.
Dorjee said some Buddhist pilgrims of Thailand first made the offer a year...

Dehradun: A team of experts from Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) will visit the Kedarnath temple in Uttarakhand to assess the quantum of damage caused by the flood fury and restoration required for the shrine. A team of five experts from Dehradun and Delhi will be the part of the...

Kochi: Archaeology has become a tool of interactive art for Afghan artist Amanullah Mojadidi, who is working on a multimedia land installation art at the KochiMuziris Biennale beginning on Dec 12. Amanullah has replicated an archaeological dig on an 8x10 sq ft plot of land at the Aspinwall...

HYDERABAD: The Andhra Pradesh Archeological museum at the premises of the Directorate, Archaeology and Museums, Gunfoundry, is set to open by the end of March 2012.The museum which has been closed for over a yearandahalf due to restoration activities is expected to open soon unless the department fails to achieve...

New Delhi: Is the Taj Mahal, India's most iconic monument, on its last legs? The Archaeological Survey of India has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court saying that in the last 30 years, the southwest minaret of the monument has tilted 3.57 centimetres.
Meanwhile, the MP from Agra Ramshankar...

Caminada Headland: Cleanup after the BP oil spill has turned up dozens of sites where archaeologists are finding human and animal bones, pottery and primitive weapons left behind by prehistoric Indian settlements a trove of new clues about the Gulf Coast's mound dwellers more than 1,300 years ago. But...

Cairo: A breed of cat called the Egyptian mau worshipped in the days of Pharaohs had been a source of inspiration for Egypt's Pharaonic fashion, says an expert.
These cats were considered sacred at the time, and were worshipped and immortalized through many of the ancient Egyptians' artifacts and temples.
"When you...

Lucknow: The Taj Mahal will look more bright and beautiful in days to come as the Archaeological Survey of India is planning to give it a cleansing mud facial.
The 17th century architectural marvel will be covered with a layer of the beautifying 'multani mitti' (fuller's earth) and once the mud...

Tiruchirappalli: An archaeological study in Tamil Nadu has thrown light on interesting facets of cave temple architecture during the PandyasPallavas reign, besides uncovering musical inscriptions engraved on some temples.
The study has revealed that cave temples of the Pandyas and the feudatories exhibited several cult images of Ananthasayi (Lord Vishnu),...

Bhubaneshwar: Konark temple, a world heritage site visited by lakhs of tourists every year is a magnificent example of Ganga dynasty architecture. However, this world famous structure is crumbling to dust. At least five big cracks have developed in the 13th century monument and stones from it keep falling off....